The White House is now deciding who can cover the president, reversing decades of precedent

(CNN) — The White House is stripping the White House Correspondents’ Association of its role in managing the White House Press Pool, taking control of deciding who will be a part of the small rotating group of journalists and photographers who accompany the president.

The press pool includes rotating representatives from television, print, radio, wire services and still photography outlets that travel with the president on Air Force One and in other small settings like the Oval Office or Roosevelt Room. They communicate information back to their counterparts at other outlets through what’s known as pool reports disseminated by email.

Since the 1950s, the independent WHCA, made up of representatives from hundreds of different outelts, has managed who is part of the rotation (in coordination with the White House). That now will change, Leavitt said.

“For decades, a group of DC-based journalists, the White House Correspondents Association, has long dictated which journalists get to ask questions of the president of the United States in these most intimate spaces. Not anymore,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced at Tuesday’s press briefing.

Leavitt added, “Moving forward, the White House press pool will be determined by the White House press team.”

Leavitt said that legacy outlets will still be allowed to join but “new voices are going to be welcomed in, as well,” pointing to streaming services, radio hosts from across the country, and other new media outlets. She did not lay out timing or specific details surrounding the new rotation.

“A select group of DC-based journalists should no longer have a monopoly over the privilege of press access at the White House,” she said.

The WHCA has coordinated the press pool since the 1950s, a major logistical feat. The WHCA, which has also traditionally determined where outlets sit in the briefing room, has nearly 800 members, who together represent nearly 300 news organizations from small faith-based outlets to the major television networks. The WHCA regularly admits new members and has three tiers of membership. Being a part of the pool carries a higher bar, considering the amount of time and resources needed to accompany the president and send out regular updates, photos and video.

Challenging the press’ independence

WHCA President Eugene Daniels said in a statement the move “tears at the independence of a free press in the United States” and “suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president.”

“In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps,” Daniels said. “For generations, the working journalists elected to lead the White House Correspondents’ Association board have consistently expanded the WHCA’s membership and its pool rotations to facilitate the inclusion of new and emerging outlets.”

Daniels said the White House did not have any discussions or consultations with the WHCA about the changes before the announcement.

“Since its founding in 1914, the WHCA has sought to ensure that the reporters, photographers, producers and technicians who actually do the work – 365 days of every year – decide amongst themselves how these rotations are operated, so as to ensure consistent professional standards and fairness in access on behalf of all readers, viewers and listeners,” he added.

Long time White House correspondents expressed deep alarm at the changes.

“Having served as a Moscow correspondent in the early days of Putin’s reign, this reminds me of how the Kremlin took over its own press pool and made sure that only compliant journalists were given access,” New York Times Chief White House Correspondent Peter Baker wrote on X. “Every president of both parties going back generations subscribed to the principle that a president doesn’t pick the press corps that is allowed in the room to ask him questions. Trump has just declared that he will.”

“This move does not give the power back to the people - it gives power to the White House. The WHCA is democratically elected by the full-time White House press corps,” Fox News Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich wrote on X. “WHCA has determined pools for decades because only representatives FROM our outlets can determine resources all those outlets have - such as staffing - in order to get the President’s message out to the largest possible audience, no matter the day or hour.”

Banning the AP

Leavitt’s announcement comes one day after a federal judge declined to immediately lift the White House’s ban on the Associated Press’ access to some of President Donald Trump’s events over the AP’s decision to continue using the term “Gulf of Mexico” after Trump renamed it the “Gulf of America”.

Though the judge in the case, a Trump appointee, did not immediately lift the ban, he did appear skeptical, calling it “problematic” and “discriminatory”.

Although the judge added that he found it “odd” that the White House was “bound” by the decisions of the WHCA, the White House, he said, “has accepted the White House Correspondent Association’s ability to be the referee here.” A hearing for a preliminary injunction will be held in March.

That now appears to be changing with Leavitt’s announcement, although the details of exactly how this new pool rotation will come to effect, whether current members will be ejected, and who will handle the logistics, has not yet been announced.

CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.